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What did men like George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Thomas Paine really believe about God and the Bible? Did the Framers intend the newly founded United States to be a Christian nation or a country that would welcome people of all beliefs?

Questions like these are still hotly debated, partly because conventional biographies give little notice to the Founders' faith, but also because these figures themselves seldom discussed their religious doubts or highest hopes in public. They never engaged in preaching from the political rostrum. Their spiritual views were highly personal ... and often unconventional.

Living at the dawn of the scientific revolution, the Founders were themselves inventors and naturalists, influenced as much by the discoveries of Deep Space and Deep Time as by any written scripture. But their greatest invention was the engineering of a republic at once secular and deeply devout, destined to become the most religiously diverse nation on earth.

"Kowalski presents fresh, candid portraits of these lionized figures that reveal them to be fiercely independent, well-grounded in the scientific knowledge of their day and above all, deep thinkers who valued the importance of personal faith. A well-written look at the beliefs held by America's founding fathers, this readable book will appeal to anyone interested in learning what drove the authors of the Constitution to value "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and the separation of church and state that fostered religious diversity." Monsters and Critics